Press Releases

Patrick J. Linehan, Public Affairs Minister-Counselor

As of June 15, 2007, Mr. Patrick J. Linehan took office as the new Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. 

Patrick Joseph Linehan (54) is a native of Boston and a graduate of Arizona State University (BA - Political Science & Russian 1974) and the University of Wisconsin (MA - Political Science 1977).  In 1979-1980 he was a Fulbright Fellow to Finland.

In 1984 Mr. Linehan entered the Foreign Service and specialized in public diplomacy.  He is now a member of the Career Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor.  He has represented the United States overseas on assignments in Helsinki-Finland, Christchurch-New Zealand, Seoul-Korea, in Yokohama, Sapporo and Tokyo in Japan, in Brasilia, Brazil and in Ottawa, Canada.

 His most recent assignments have been as Embassy Spokesman in Seoul (1996-1999) and in Tokyo (1999-2003), Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil, and Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada.  He speaks Japanese, Korean and Portuguese.  He assumed his duties as Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on June 15, 2007.